the Engineering College
arranged lectures for business men, he gave the plan his hearty support,
and occasionally came under fire because of certain radical speakers. He
was frequently the choice of the University as its representative on
public occasions in the city. At the Commencement of 1924, the
University of Cincinnati bestowed upon Mr. Nelson the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws, "as one who has ever striven to advance the government
of the mind and spirit, and who by his own severe self-discipline and
true humility has taught all of us to subdue ourselves to the
imperishable laws of reason and faith."

When one considers the recognition which the entire city whole-heartedly
and unreservedly accorded Mr. Nelson, it is a sorry commentary on the
influence of politics that upon the expiration of his second term as a
trustee of the University the new Republican Mayor, James Garfield
Stewart, failed to reappoint him. He was deeply hurt, but there was
satisfaction in the realization that it was because of his continued
denunciation of party politics that the reappointment did not go
through. He was a clergyman who never curried favor nor withheld opinion
when forthrightness was the moral requisite. The people knew where he
stood, and no office could silence him. To behave as a citizen is "to
conduct oneself as pledged to some law of life." His faithful obedience
was recognized on many occasions and in numerous ways. One such
recognition was his place in a group of fifteen leading citizens
selected by four Cincinnatians chosen at random by "_The Cincinnati
Post_." He was described as "having given vision and voice to public
service, and in the art of human relations a leader in many fields for
many people."

Few public testimonials have awakened so spontaneous a response as that
tendered Mr. Nelson on December 3, 1923, in honor of his twenty-five
years of service to church and city. Originating among his own
parishioners, the plan quickly developed into a city-wide observance.
The committee on arrangements was expanded, and included the Reverend
Doctor Francis J. Finn, Rabbi David Philipson, the Reverend John F.
Herget, and the Right Reverend Boyd Vincent, as well as a large number
of prominent laity outside Christ Church. When the evening arrived, one
thousand one hundred people from all paths of life sat down to dinner in
the Hotel Gibson. The President of the University, Dr. Frederick C.
Hicks, presided. The Mayor